Mother's Day Love

If you read my previous post, you would have read about the tornado warnings where my son lives. I just watched the evening news with lots of photos of the tornado near their house. How thankful I am again that no one was hurt and there was no damage. Olathe, Kansas, is a very populated area with so many homes and businesses. Both tornadoes stayed aloft, but they certainly looked ominous.

I have a few more Mother's Day cards to make, so I was glad to see the challenge at Paper Sundaes. This card uses the great sketch at Freshly Made Sketches, #33. I used the color scheme from The Play Date Cafe, Challenge #130. It worked really well with the My Mind's Eye "Love Me" paper collection.

I used an embossing folder that has diagonal lines like the plaid paper. I cut out two hearts from the paper and pop dotted them. The gray heart on the sentiment circle came from a gray doily pattern on the back of one of the papers. Ribbon and sparkles were simple embellishments, but maybe with the embossing, my card isn't quite so Clean and Simple. It certainly was simple to make and I know my oldest daughter will love it.

May God bless your cardmaking for the special women in your life.

Challenges:

Freshly Made Sketch #33

Paper Sundaes Challenge #119 - Mother's Day

The Play Date Cafe Challenge #130 - pink, aqua, gray

6.5" x 5" Mother's Day Card Recipe:

Paper - My Mind's Eye "Love Me;" Close To My Heart Crystal Blue cardstock

Stamps - CTMH retired (sentiment)

Ink - CTMH Hollyhock

Other - Cuttlebug embossing folder, CTMH pink sparkles, Crystal Blue organdy (retired), Spellbinder's Nestabilities Heart Circles

He Is Risen for Blogger's Challenge and Paper Sundaes

I'm adding more Easter cards to the ones I need to give this weekend. Easter was always a time we'd go to church then have a large dinner with family. My grandma made us Easter dresses and we had Easter hats to match. Even though my dad was a pastor when I was little, we'd have an Easter basket of "goodies" waiting for us when we'd wake up. My favorite basket included a live duck when I was six years old. And from the time I was a baby, my parents made sure there were Easter pictures taken of us outside before or after church. When I was eight my father pastored a small country church where they let me sing "He Arose" with the choir. Those Easter service hymns remained a big part of the enjoyable experience.

I will give several cards with a cross, but they will all be empty crosses. Over 500 witnesses saw Christ after he arose from the grave. His resurrection is His promise that we can also have life after death if we trust that He died to take our place so that we wouldn't have to take the punishment for our own sins. That's what really makes me happy at Easter!

This card also has a dove. Sometimes in Scripture a dove represents the Holy Spirit. In our culture it is also a symbol of peace. I made this Easter card for two challenges. Lisa Somerville's Blogger's Challenge is For the Birds. Paper Sundaes Challenge #114 is Easter. I used a waterbrush to lightly paint the dove blush on it's underside and heavenly blue around the rest of the outline. The cross was also colored with a waterbrush using a chocolate stamp pad. I press the middle of the closed inkpad lid, then open it. A small amount of ink is on the lid which lightly blends with the waterbrush. That way I don't have to dilute the ink on the inkpad.

The pink and chocolate papers are really the front and back of the same piece. I think they have an old fashioned appearance.

All materials used to make this card are from Close To My Heart, although some are retired.

6.5" x 5" Easter Card Recipe:
Paper - That's Amore, colonial White, Buttercup, Chocolate, Blush cardstock
Stamp - Beloved
Ink - Blush, Chocolate, Heavenly Blue (used with waterbrush on dove)
Other - Colonial White and Buttercup ribbon collections, wooden button, Baker's twine, waterbrush